Lotus
by CommanderWaffles
Summary: His face was concealed by a black mask; large purple eyes were gazing out from the round slits, where his mouth would be a shape splattered with white paint, a zigzag line which curled into a broad smile, like the teeth of a beast.
1. Twin Serpents

_**LOTUS**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, or any characters from Bleach…**

**A/N: My first Bleach fic! I'm going to be using both English terms and Japanese terms mixed together such as "Hell Butterfly" I will actually call it that since I have watched more of the dubbed anime, and have only read a few chapters of the manga, so sorry if anyone gets confused about things like that… anyway ENJOY!**

**Takes place right before the beast swords arc**

**PROLOGUE**

"A Shinigami eh?" A cold voice asked from across the table.

"I know it's a bit much, but, if it keeps us away from Lotus we can handle it, it's a big enough payout to keep us at bay for a little while." The young man replied, sliding a slip of paper with an image on it to the other.

The two men sat at a square table inside the old shop, which was mostly empty except for an aged, withered man behind the counter eyeing the two men, more particularly the one to the right, crouched up against the corner of the wall. Rough blue jeans, a little too big draped over his legs with tennis shoes, a black jacket with a hood fur lined with hazel. His face was concealed by a black mask; large purple eyes were gazing out from the round slits, where his mouth would be shape splattered with white paint, a zigzag line which curled into a broad smile, like the teeth of a beast.

Both men were dressed oddly, but, the one to the left had a more subtle look to him. Wearing a white shirt with light blue pinstripes, grey suspenders over the top, grey pants and a pair of black dress shoes. Half moon spectacles hung over a large pointed nose, blocking a set of sharp hazel yes. The black hair atop his head combed neatly to the right, and a thin layer of stubble extended across his mouth.

"Brax, listen." The young man had warmness to his voice.

The one with the mask lowered his head a bit, indicating that he had accepted the other's request.

The man with the glasses turned his eyes to the shopkeeper, who immediately turned and froze with fear. Then he continued.

"I think this is a little heavy, it's suspicious that _anyone_ would take this risk, especially considering I've never even spoke to the client in person."

The masked one let out a chuckle. "Why is this suspicious? We are the most skilled _workers_ anyone can hire in this particular business, besides I got no problem as long as the reward is nice and tasty." There was the cold voice of the other, no older then the other judging by his voice.

"Do you take comfort in being so insufferably arrogant?" The bearded one replied, rolling his eyes.

"They don't say _"__**Arrogance**__ is bliss"_, but, I guess it works just fine either way." The masked one remarked, snickering lightly.

"I haven't officially accepted the job, but seeing as it's such a_… delicate _situation I doubt we're in any place to decline."

"Well then, Katsuo, if we don't have a choice, why bother asking my opinion." This time the masked did not snicker or chuckle, his eyes were not glaring wide and his voice was calm.

"We can run, this could easily be a trap, there's a chance they're still after us." Katsuo seemed distressed.

The other one placed his hands behind his head and leaned back, and closed his eyes, sending himself shooting into a distant memory. A brisk salty breeze barrelled against him for split second, then he returned to the stillness of the shop.

"Been six years since we bumped into those guys, they were a little more than we could handle back then, but we've gotten stronger, doubt those guys could withstand a measly poke from me these days." He said, his eyes still closed and more chuckles followed his reply.

"I'm guessing that's a yes then, we're going to accept the contract?" The hazel-eyed one gazed down at the slip of paper.

"It's just business nothing personal, in fact you aren't bad looking. I'm sure if our circumstances were different we could be good friends, but, unfortunately for you we're not… Rukia Kuchiki."

**CHAPTER 1: TWIN SERPENTS**

Ichigo sighed as he passed through the bustling hallways of his high school.

"Karakura Town hasn't been this quiet in weeks." He stated to himself as he passed a huge crowd of students.

"What was that Ichigo?" A voice said from behind him.

He glanced back, a girl with short black hair and hazel eyes stared back at him, looking curious.

"Nothing Tatsuki."

He strolled up to the classroom, and took his usual seat, greeting Orihime, Chad, Uryu and Rukia. The classroom had the same dull look as the hallway, white with rows of desks all facing the chalk board, there was a supply teacher today, he was just starting to give introductions. Ichigo wasn't paying attention blanking the short, plump man's voice out, and enjoying the view outside. A great yellow sun was shining intensely and just the right amount of clouds spiralled around the massive orb, that's when he noticed it, almost like a ripple shooting across the sky in a split second, he looked towards his companions, but, by there calm expressions they hadn't noticed anything.

Ichigo chose to forget it and went about his day, moving from class to class looking up at the sky for anything unusual every few minutes, the bell had just gone off signalling the end of third period, Ichigo was wandering around the halls at the time, when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Ichigo do you feel that?" It was Rukia looking a bit concerned.

"Feel… what?" Ichigo replied.

"That Reiatsu," She paused for a second then shuffled through her pockets, pulling out a silver flip phone and fiddling with the buttons. "It feels pretty strong, but there aren't any hollows near by, and it isn't anyone I recognise."

"Damn, can't this town be normal for _one _day?" Ichigo complained.

"We can't be sure if its actually a threat, but we should keep our guard up, and inform the- Rukia suddenly stopped.

"Huh, Rukia, what's the matter?"

"They're getting closer, there's two of them and they're moving fast!"

In a second the hallway was blasted with sound, first a huge explosion, then the sound of crumbling rock, then students poured out of the classrooms running and screaming. Ichigo and Rukia were now surrounded by dust, both of them had taken cover behind the wall to their left. Muffled voices could be heard from the around the corner.

"Are you trying to kill us both? She's not alone!" A young man yelled over the sound of the building crumbling above them.

"Well, you make it a lot better by screaming." Another one replied quite calmly, despite the other's distress.

Ichigo burst out in front of the two men.

"Ichigo, wait!" Rukia shouted attempting to grab his arm and failing.

Ichigo saw the extent of the damage, one of the entrances had been completely ripped clean off and there was now a giant hole leading out into the school grounds.

The two men just looked at Ichigo for a bit, clearly surprised by his entrance, Ichigo was surprised as well.

"_These guys look like idiots!" _

A thin tall man, about 6, 1, with brown, neatly combed hair and half-moon spectacles and another thin man, this one a bit shorter than the other with his face covered by a black mask with a white smile painted on it glared at him.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo barked.

The two glanced at each other.

"Uh… are you talking to _us_?" The one with the mask asked slowly.

"Who else would I be talking to idiot?" Ichigo retorted.

Ichigo paused as he noticed the both of them were carrying weapons, the masked one had a sword strapped to his jeans, on his left side, hanging just under his fur-lined jacket the handle was gold with black grip and the guard was a black hexagon-like shape. The other had his sword fastened onto his back, Ichigo could see the silver handle, with black grip and blue guard shaped like a cross, over his shoulder, this one immediately raised his arm, grabbing the sword, but leaving it sheathed.

"Me and my associate here have come to meet with someone, so if you wouldn't mind… stepping aside." The man with the mask declared, snickering lightly.

The other man exchanged an uneasy look.

"What the hell are you doing here, what do you want?" Ichigo demanded glancing over his shoulder at Rukia, who was now stepping forward.

"Just move along kid! This doesn't concern- The one with the mask nudged the other before he could finish and pointed towards Rukia.

"Stand down!" Rukia ordered, Ichigo looked at her with confusion on his face, "They have Zanpakuto, maybe they are part of the soul-society."

"They don't look like any shinigami I've ever seen."

Suddenly the masked man ran towards, drawing his sword with his right hand mid-charge and slashing towards Ichigo, Ichigo dodged, diving to the right, letting the opponents blow crack through the brick wall leaving a gaping mark.

Ichigo than jumped out into his shinigami form from his, now lifeless body, harbouring the giant sword Zangetsu on his back.

Ichigo then countered, slashing downwards at the man's back, Ichigo's masked opponent made a swift spin and blocked with his blade horizontal, he then freed his left hand from his swords grip and threw a punch at Ichigo's head. Ichigo jumped back, avoiding his enemy's blow.

"What the hell are you doing, why'd you just start attacking me outta the freaking blue?" Ichigo snapped angrily.

"I made the assumption that you were going to try and protect your friend over there, so I figured I'd just eliminate you from the picture now." He explained casually.

"May I ask why you want to attack me?" Rukia asked jumping out of her gigai.

"I'm afraid we're unable to answer that question, even if we wanted to, we were hired, we know nothing about the situation." The brown haired man, was keeping calm, and both his arms were back at his sides.

At that moment Chad, Uryu and Orihime came sprinting from around the corner.

"Ichigo we were all the way on the other side of the school we got here as fast as we could!" Uryu yelled, noticing the two mysterious figures and immediately putting up his guard.

"Uryu, Chad, Orihime, stand back! They're carrying Zanpakuto."

"Yeah! Now _this _is a party, and, seeing as there is so many of you I'll take the liberty of introducing myself! I'm Braxis!" The masked man said laughing wildly.

The five of them paused for a few seconds.

"You guys are a rude bunch of guests you're _supposed_ tell me _your _names now." Braxis said a bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Brax, quit being an idiot and just finish them." The other one commanded.

"Forgive my friend Katsuo here, he tends to be an ass when he meets new people." Braxis announced with a chuckle.

"Shut up! We were supposed to finish quickly, but you have to waste time on some stupid introduction!" Katsuo retorted.

"What? Are you getting cold feet?" Uryu hissed as he armed himself.

"Nope, my feet are quite warm." Braxis replied

"SERIOUSLY! That was a terrible joke!" Ichigo screamed, although the others ignored his outburst.

"Braxis, we have to leave, I'm serious." Katsuo said furrowing his brows.

Braxis turned his gaze towards Katsuo and gave him a curious look.

Suddenly there was a flash of movement, and Katsuo jumped upwards to dodge a swipe from a silver flash.

"Captain Hitsuguya!" Rukia exclaimed.

A short white haired figure appeared in front of Katsuo, along with a tall blonde woman, and a man with red hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Looks like we showed up just in time!" Rangiku said joyfully as she observed the situation.

"Who the hell are these freaks?" Renji shouted.

Braxis scratched the back of his neck and gazed at Toshiro.

"Aww shit, a captain."


	2. Sleeping Beast

_**LOTUS**_

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Bleach… that's for sure**

**A/N: This chapter is a little crazy, but bear with me, having to describe so many zanpakuto REALLY gets on my nerves after awhile lol, anyway ENJOY!**

**Special thanks to my Beta Reader: MyNameIsARickRoll :D**

The two mysterious figures eyed the short, spiky-haired boy standing just a few feet in front of them.

"Uhh, you _are_a captain, right?" Braxis asked with one eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Of course I am, Toshiro Hitsuguya, captain of the 10th division." He replied firmly.

"Oh sorry, for a second I thought you were a little kid playing dress up." Braxis said chuckling.

Toshiro's face immediately turned red with anger and it was evident that he was holding himself back.

"Captain Toshiro Hitsuguya, we do not wish to fight you, please, let us stand down and retreat, you'll never hear from us again I promise you." Katsuo bowed, trying to show respect.

The others immediately froze all baffled, by the once enemy now trying to plead his way out of the situation.

"Are you serious?" The captain burst out, as surprised as anyone else.

"You guys are pathetic, first you attack us without even explaining to us why, and now you are acting like complete cowards!" Ichigo snapped at Braxis, who's eyes looked completely unimpressed.

"I never said anything about surrendering, but c'mon it's 8 vs. 2 that's totally unfair, plus 1 of those 8 is a captain completely-

"Sweep away the earth! Mizurixyuu (水竜)!" Katsuo suddenly leaped towards Toshiro grabbing his blade and whipping it into the air, water sprayed into every direction, when Katsuo slashed the blade it had been to far away to hit Toshiro, but instead blasted out in a streak of water almost like an entirely different blade being shot towards Toshiro. Rangiku quickly jumped in front of the attack to shield her captain, pulling out her zanpakuto and blocking the attack with a vertical slash, but the water simply ignored her blade, passing over Rangiku's zanpakuto and continuing on its path. Rangiku swiftly jumped towards her left, but could not completely avoid the attack- water had scratched her right shoulder, then deteriorated in the air.

His zanpakuto was bright silver, almost white, with spiral carvings all along it's thin blade, it had a circular guard which was diagonal, going over the blade, it was navy blue, underneath was a silver hilt with navy blue grip.

Katsuo's expression was serious, he pushed his glasses up with his middle finger, then put his guard up. "I'm guessing you are the vice captain then... I'm afraid that attack can only be dodged."

Rangiku readied herself to strike back, but Toshiro gave her a firm look and she lowered her guard.

"Enough, I want answers, why has Lotus targeted Rukia Kuchiki?" Toshiro ordered questioningly, crossing his arms.

The question was random, Ichigo sure didn't understand, he glanced at Rukia, but she just shook her head, meaning she didn't get it either. "Lotus"? What or who is "Lotus"? Even Rangiku looked puzzled.

Katsuo looked back at Braxis, whose zanpakuto was sheathed once again. He exchanged the same firm look.

"What's Lotus?" Uryuu asked The two shinigami standing in front of him (Rukia and Ichigo) they both said nothing.

"To put this bluntly, what the hell are you talking about?" Braxis inquired, although no chuckles followed.

"Don't play dumb, why have you been sent to attack Rukia." Toshiro pushed on.

Katsuo stared down at the floor, only the glare of the sun reflected in his glasses could be seen.

"Dammit! It was a trap!" Katsuo screamed.

Within a few seconds the school underneath them was shaking violently and the walls began to crumble further, Chad punched a hole through the wall and Uryu, Orihime Ichigo Rukia and Renji followed, Toshiro and his vice captain escaped from the hole that had been made earlier, and Braxis smashed through one of the windows and was followed by Katsuo, all of them scrambling in every direction, the school had been completely obliterated. Ichigo was struck with a pang of worry, _what if someone was still inside_, but was pulled back into the current events.

Katsuo was standing beside him, watching as the school was swept away leaving only a cloud of dust hovering over the ground.

_How come they didn't run, they could've easily escaped when we were all distracted? _

Two small specs could be seen approaching behind the pile of rubble that was once Karakura high school.

"Look what we have here, a bunch of clowns!" Came a high man's voice, as the two people from behind the rubble pressed further toward the ten of them, which had gathered on the dirt field behind the school.

One of the men was nearly a foot taller than the other about 6,7, the taller one had a heavy build, he had a fat round nose, his eyes were brown and narrow, he was frowning, a few black bangs could be seen from the hood of his battered dark red trench coat, although his arms were bare, not within the sleeves of his coat, which simply hung on his head, underneath he wore a black tank top, with dark red pants with black stripes down the sides that matched his coat, and black boots.

The shorter man wore the same pattern of dark red and black, except he was wearing something that looked like a military-jacket, which was unbuttoned, underneath was a white shirt, and followed by plain dark red pants, and a pair of black and white pointy dress shoes. His hair was chin length, jet black and dishevelled, his eyes were deep blue. He looked younger than the taller man. A golden sheath hung from his right hip.

Toshiro raised his zanpakuto and pointed at the pair, its silver blade shimmering in the sunlight.

"Explain yourself, before you get any closer." He demanded.

The two halted, they were about 15 feet away now.

"I'll handle them." The large one claimed, grabbing the hilt of his blade which was now noticeable behind his husky figure.

"Go ahead." The other replied casually.

"Begin, Haetorigumo (ハエトリグモ)!" in a flash the zanpakuto had transformed into a dark grey bulky thing, that most resembled a butchers knife, although the blade had no hilt, instead it looked as if a piece of the blade had been cut out in between the gap was a metal bar, which the man was using to carry the weapon.

Immediately he leaped towards them, hammering his blade onto a random spot in the middle of them. Ichigo quickly put up his guard and returned a slash, but his opponent was able to pull away and block the attack, the large man swiftly lowered his sword, preparing to uppercut, suddenly he changed his stance and began slashing side to side pushing Ichigo backwards, Ichigo ducked avoiding one of the foes attacks, then countered with a rapid uppercut, the enemy just barely blocked the attack.

Toshiro watched Ichigo fight with the other individual, the others had scattered away from the area where the fight had started.

_The guy that Ichigo is fighting is strong, but Ichigo has the upper hand, that could only mean two things, Lotus sent two Vice Captain to complete the mission, or the one standing in front of me is the captain level. _

Rangiku, which was standing to the right of Toshiro, must've noticed too, she instantly readied herself for battle.

"You're Toshiro Hitsuguya Captain of the 10th division, correct?" The mysterious figure asked.

"What if I am?" Toshiro snapped back.

"I am Yori Takata, Commander of the 5th Brigade." He paused for a second then pointed in the general direction of Ichigo's battle. "That is my 2nd in command, Shin Nakayama." He then turned around revealing a symbol on the back of his jacket, the black outline of the flower, filled in with elegant tribal designs, obviously a Lotus.

"The seven petals on the outside of the Lotus represent the 7 Brigades, the 7 petals on the inside represent the 7 Gicho, the 7 strongest members among Lotus, and the centre, which could represent none other then our leader. I have been sent to inform you that we do not wish to start a war with the soul society, nor do _I_ wish to fight you, but if you protect those two young men, I'm under orders to kill anyone who may become an obstacle." Yori informed, keeping the same blank expression throughout his speech.

"If you didn't want to start a war with the Soul Society than it was a foolish decision to target one of our own, we can't just allow you to attack us without consequence." Toshiro stated getting ready to launch an attack.

Ichigo countered again, once again having it blocked by his giant enemy.

_Dammit! Whenever I try to give myself some space this guy just pushes harder._

The enemy came back with another attack, this time he narrowly missed Ichigo, hammering the ground, then he pulled his sword back to his right, preparing for another slash.

_Now's my chance!_

Just before he could launch his attack Ichigo jumped back, then raised his own sword.

"Getsuga Tensho!" He screamed swinging Zangetsu downwards sending a wave of blue spiritual energy barrelling towards Shin.

Shin attempted to dive to his right, but was too slow, the attack smashed against his right shoulder, sending blood spraying over his already-crimson attire.

He paused, rubbing his wound; his expression was now a slight smile. "You're a decent opponent after all." A hoarse voice remarked.

"Rangiku, go after him!" Toshiro barked, as Braxis began to fade into the distance. Katsuo sighed as he noticed what his companion had done.

Rangiku charged after him, not getting very far before he stopped and turned around.

"This is such a hassle! Why not just let me go?" Braxis stated.

"Well, it'd be less of a hassle if you'd stop trying to escape, now we can do this the easy way or the hard way." she shot back.

Braxis groaned. "Do I _have_ to fight you; I wouldn't take much pleasure in beating up such a good-looking chick."

"Oh that's sweet, but, it's not nearly good enough to get you out of this."

"Suit yourself." He said chuckling.

Braxis whipped out his zanpakuto with his right hand, than raised it above his head. "Snarl Setsudan (切断)!"

The blade was silver, it was the shape of a katana, but, it was more like a saw then anything, one side of the blade was rowed with large teeth, Braxis' zanpakuto had no guard, its hilt was a bronze colour with black grip, hanging from the bottom of its hilt was a little blank wooden doll of a man, connected by a short thin silver chain.

"If you're not going to stand down I will, unfortunately, have to fight you." Yori sighed then slowly unsheathed his zanpakuto with his right hand, the blade pointing downwards, it had a blue-ish tint to it, the hilt was bronze with navy blue grip, the guard was the most unique thing about it was square, but was covered in a beige fur.

"I'd like to introduce you to my zanpakuto, Shishisuimin (獣睡眠)."

Toshiro made the first move, disappearing for a split second, then re-appearing, beside Yori, with a swift flick of Yori's blade he was able to block the attack, countering, holding his sword with just his index, middle finger and his thumb, Yori made what looked like tiny movements that turned out to be quick slashes.

Suddenly a sound erupted across the sky, almost like the squeal of a distant kettle, Yori stopped attacking, jumping backwards, so that Toshiro could not launch an unpredictable attack.

"I didn't want to fight at this level, but our time has run out, and you chose to battle me, something I did not anticipate."

Yori brought the hilt of his zanpakuto close to his face, still holding it downwards in that unusual way.

"…Bankai."

**Note: Gicho means chairman! **

**Zanpakuto included in chapter**: **Mizurixyuu (Water Dragon), Setsudan (Disconnection), Shishisuimin (Sleeping Beast), Haetorigumo (Jumping Spider)**


	3. Swift Retreat

_**LOTUS**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any characters involved in Bleach…**

**A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter, a healthy amount of action, hope you ENJOY!**

**Special thanks to my beta reader: MyNameIsARickRoll :D **

"...bankai"

$$$$$$$$$$$$

Rangiku was almost trembling from the huge amounts of reiatsu being discharged from her captains position.

"Hey!" Braxis waved at her, trying to get her attention. "Helloooo?" Rangiku continued to ignore him. "Come in hotcakes!"

"Huh? What did you just call me?" She finally replied, Braxis smacked his right hand against his face.

"You know if you want to ditch this fight and go assist your captain, I'm perfectly fine with that!" He claimed enthusiastically.

"Give it a rest will you?" Rangiku said, yawning.

"Fine let's just get this over with then, I'll _try_ not to tear you limb from limb." Braxis remarked, snickering.

"I can't make the same promise." Rangiku retorted with a grin.

With that the two leaped towards each other colliding in midair, Braxis was clearly over powering Rangiku at this point since her zanpakuto wasn't released. He was slashing from side to side, he was quick, but slow enough that Rangiku could block or parry his attacks with relative ease.

Rangiku kicked off of Braxis' chest, sliding a bit when she landed back onto solid ground.

"Growl Haineko." Rangiku announced.

Braxis had never seen a zanpakuto like it, as it evaporated into a cloud of charcoal coloured smoke suddenly the smoke rushed towards him, about to completely envelope him, Braxis had no choice but to dodge, using shunpo he quickly teleported away from the drifting dust cloud. It was difficult to avoid, Braxis was practically throwing himself out of it's path, and still just narrowly dodging it.

Braxis paused for a brief second, finally discovering a path of attack, he used shunpo teleporting next Rangiku and whipping his sword downwards, Rangiku stepped sideways, although the blade cut off a few of her hairs, as she noticed a few golden strings fluttering towards the ground.

Suddenly Braxis began using shunpo and attacking her from all directions, her ash was useless at this distance, Rangiku returned her zanpakuto to it's solid form and was using it to block Braxis rapid and wild blows.

Rangiku noticed an opening, charged forward and readied an uppercut, something was wrong though, Braxis didn't even attempt to read her movements or put up his guard, before she could fully reach her opponent, Braxis suddenly pulled his zanpakuto to the right, somehow yanking Rangiku in the same direction. Rangiku exhaled as a stinging pain shot through the left side of her stomach.

$$$$$$$$$$$

White reiatsu was surrounding the man in front of Toshiro, Yori's zanpakuto was now made out of a solid bone-like material, although the guard and hilt had not changed, more of the bone like substance clung up his right arm, extending to his shoulder blade, then crawling up his spine, on both of his shoulders rested two wolf skulls, which were attached to the spine.

"Don't worry, I doubt this fight will last long enough time to escalate into such lengths that we would be able to seriously injure one another."

Ichigo gazed at the scene unfolding in front of him, not paying attention to his enemy which was charging for him, Ichigo was able to dodge, but stumbled backwards onto the floor, bracing himself for a heavy slash, when suddenly Renji stepped in, slinging Zabimaru in front of Shin's upcoming attack.

"Pay attention to what you're doing Ichigo!" Renji yelled, pulling back Zabimaru and scratching Shin's back.

"What the hell!" Ichigo screamed looking outraged, "the first attack you throw at him is a hit!"

"Next time you should pay attention to what you're doing!" Renji replied with a smirk, as he stepped up to battle Shin himself.

"No way, this is my fight!" Ichigo slammed his blade onto the enemies, budding in front of Renji to do so.

"Stop this!" Shin demanded, the frown returning to his face. "Decide which one of you will fight me!"

Renji and Ichigo looked at each other, fury lingering in both sets of eyes.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" they shouted in unison, throwing there fists downwards. Both had chosen rock.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Both threw down scissors.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Ichigo's hand was flat while Renji's was tightened into a fist.

"No! Best two out of three!" Renji groaned, but Ichigo ignored his request.

Ichigo took a stance in front of Shin. "Looks like you're still up against me."

"I'm glad, we can properly finish our battle." Shin replied, grinning.

Renji, moped his way back to the group of the others which had accumulated about thirty feet away from the two battles, most of them were standing on nicely trimmed emerald grass under a healthy sized tree.

"Guess I'm back to being useless." Renji mumbled as he approached the five standing in a cluster.

"Join the club." Katsuo said blankly.

"We could help by figuring out what's actually going on here." Uryuu suggested to the others. "First things first weren't you supposed to be the enemy?"

"We were hired to kill Rukia Kuchiki, but it was clearly a trap." Katsuo said, glancing at Rukia.

"So then what do you have to do with these people?" Uryuu replied.

"We are former members of Lotus, though it's been around 4 decades since we had escaped, it seems they're still trying to kill us, see, most of the members of Lotus were forced into becoming a part of it, some have been rejected by the soul society and simply seek power, but, Lotus is a secret society, and they're just as welcoming as the next." Katsuo said, a grim tone coating his voice. "Any member who is not in the 7 brigades or higher is treated like a prisoner, which is what they truly are."

$$$$$$$$$$$

"Bankai! Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" Toshiro shouting, his body now shielded with ice.

"Although I did not want to fight you I admit, I've been eager to witness the famous child prodigy Captain Hitsugaya fight at bankai level." Yori smiled with excitement.

Raising his blade Yori suddenly teleported next Toshiro, whipping his blade wildly in all directions, Toshiro countered shooting a beam of ice his way, Yori blocked it, slashing his blade at the large chunk of ice shattering it into hundreds of pieces.

Yori then jumped into the air, Toshiro followed, both of them were now about 100 feet off of the ground.

"Allow me to make the first attack."

The wolf skull on Yori's right shoulder snapped open it's mouth, a small yellow light began growing inside it's mouth, growing until it was a ball nearly bigger than the skull itself, then it released, shooting a huge yellow ray across the sky, Toshiro dodged it easily, then jumped at Yori, their blades clashed, they held themselves there struggling to fight each other off for a minute or so. Suddenly the skull on Yori's left shoulder snapped open, Toshiro was barely able to dodge the attack this time, but used shunpo just before it reached him and reappearing to the right, a safe distance away.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

"Slice!" Braxis exclaimed, laughing. "I thought with hooters like _those_ you'd weigh a bit more, silly me, you're as light as a feather!" Braxis continued to chuckle wildly.

Rangiku remained silent clutching her wound.

"Want me to give you a lesson on the way Setsudan works then?" Braxis held it out with the hilt facing Rangiku as if he was handing it to her. "Looks like any other, typical katana grip right? Wrong, it's actually rapped with a special kind of wire, which I can unwind and stick onto my enemies, allowing me to whip around my enemies as I please, its got pretty good range too, as long as its stuck to you I can toss you around from a considerably long distance, and even if you do manage to cut yourself free I can just get you again, of course, depending on which part of you it is hooked to it's effectiveness varies, but seems like I tagged you in the perfect spot." Braxis was smiling by the look of his large purple orbs.

"You just gave away your secret, now I can anticipate your attacks." Rangiku said rising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Whatever it's still a pretty unpredictable attack."

"You're underestimating me." Rangiku stated readying herself for battle once again.

"Maybe, or maybe you're underestimating me by assuming that I don't have anymore tricks up my sleeve!"

The two were suddenly drawn to the sound of an explosion coming from the spot where the two captain level shinigami were battling, both Yori's and Toshiro's were flaring, they were fighting at or at least close to full power.

"Man, it sure is getting rough, sure you don't want to go help out that kid, I'm actually being serious now." Braxis stated squinting towards the origin of the huge fight.

"Captain Hitsuguya is more than capable of handling himself, he's not a baby, besides, they must be using bankai, at that level of fighting I wouldn't be much help."

"I don't know, Takata is a badass." He responded.

"Why'd you just leave your friend back there." Rangiku suddenly asked.

"Yeah, I assumed Katsuo would notice me and drift along, but, apparently I was wrong." Braxis replied snickering.

Instinctively Rangiku kicked off towards her enemy, while his gaurd was down, Braxis shifted himself towards Rangiku's strike, blocking with his zanpakuto awkwardly, gripping his blade with just one hand and vulnerable to a rebound attack, Rangiku had a clear advantage here, raising her Haineko she made another quick attack, towards Braxis' torso, Braxis suddenly used shunpo, disappearing and reappearing several feet away and in the air. Braxis brought his left hand close to his face, her attack had landed evidently, the palm of his left hand had a deep gash across it and was bleeding an awfully large amount.

"Oh you're a sly devil aren't you, whatever I deserved it, I practically gift rapped that for you." Braxis said, followed by chuckles as usual, then continued. "Oh! I didn't catch your name did I?"

"And what makes you think I would give you the liberty of knowing my name?" Rangiku stated snootily.

"Fine don't tell me your name, just trying to break the ice."

Braxis lunged forward, whipping his katana to the left, Rangiku attempted to dodge, only to be yanked back into her previous position by Braxis' wire, she was able to block another slash from her opponent sending sparks jumping from their blades.

"Rangiku Matsumoto, vice captain of the 10th division." Rangiku recited launching a swift diagonal attack which Braxis was able to dodge.

"Houkaisuru (崩壊する)!" Purple reiastu was sent shooting from Braxis' zanpakuto, hitting a nearby home, which collapsed at impact.

Suddenly the sky begin to screech again, but this time it was a piercing noise, Rangiku and Braxis both blocked their ears, the pain stretching into their brains as they struggled to keep balance.

"They will be most displeased." Yori stated, frowning.

Shin slammed his blade downwards against Ichigo's, then rebounded with a swift punch to the gut, Ichigo pulled back, staggering a bit.

Ichigo returned a heavy uppercut, Shin was barely able to block the attack, Shin countered, smashing his blade against Ichigo and kicking Ichigo's ribs with his right shin, but Ichigo countered, grabbing his leg underneath his arm and splitting open Shin's left shoulder.

"Shin, we mustn't linger." Yori ordered from across the lot.

Shin obliged, grasping his newly obtained wound and jumping beside his captain.

"From this location we, will have to return manually, how tiresome." Yori muttered to his subordinate.

"What? You're leaving in the middle of a fight like cowards!" Ichigo yelled, as the two men lowered themselves to the ground.

"One thousand pardons, but we must be off, they are growing impatient with us. Also I'd like to inform you that though our battle was short, I have collected data on your fighting style, next time we meet I will be better fit to deal with you, I suggest you keep that in mind, Toshiro Hitsugaya."

**I don't like stretching fights for a long time, but I kinda think this is necessary…**


	4. The System

**A/N: Yeah, sorry to keep everyone waiting I know this took forever, but now that it's finally done ENJOY!**

**Special thanks to my beta-reader: MyNameIsARickRoll!**

The sky began to rumble, like the sound of a jet engine just as it was about to shoot an air craft off the ground.

Yori looked back at Toshiro, his black hair rustling in the soft breeze.

"I strongly suggest you hand those two over, if not I can assure you we will meet again."

The two of them shot up into the sky and for a second their bodies were being stretched up towards the sun, then they vanished.  
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"The hell?" Braxis yelled, gazing into the sky.

Rangiku leaped towards him, Braxis dodged, jumping to the right.

"Hold up!" Braxis snapped.

Rangiku ignored him, launching herself towards him again, barely missing his left arm with an uppercut. Braxis groaned then whipped his sword aside, tossing her to the right. Rangiku was able to land on her feet, but was now on the ground.

Braxis' eyes remained focused on the same spot as he pondered.

Rangiku hurdled towards Braxis, there blades colliding as they struggled to overpower one-another.

"Quit it, look the fighting is over." Braxis said, slightly annoyed.

"Really?" Rangiku asked staring in the direction of the battle.

"Yori's Reiatsu is gone." Braxis said raising an eyebrow, then chuckling, "Yori must be chicken shit, either that, or that toddler kicked his ass!"

"What did you just call me? A toddler?" Both of them spun around, surprised by Toshiro's outburst.

Toshiro was standing on the grass field below them a furious look on his face, the others had all followed.

"How about you give me a heads-up next time you try to escape." Katsuo looked up at Braxis, who dropped down to the ground.

"No big deal, just got into a little scuffle." He said chuckling, holding up his battered hand which was now drenched in blood.

Rangiku also dropped to the ground, clutching the gash in her stomach.

"Rangiku are you hurt?" Toshiro asked pouncing to her side.

"No need to worry about me captain." She said.

"Don't get all panicky, it's just a flesh wound, nothing serious." Braxis piped up.

"We're even this time, but I was under orders to _immobilize_you, not kill you." Rangiku stated with a grin.

"I expected you were holding back, that makes two of us, I had no intention of killing you, me with my heart of gold." He replied chuckling.

"Where the heck is Urahara and Yoruichi shouldn't they have showed up?" Ichigo questioned as he approached the others standing in a loosely connected group.

"Ichigo's right I'd be surprised if Urahara didn't already know about the attack, so why didn't he intervene?" Rukia proclaimed, in deep thought.

"There's more of you?" Katsuo said looking a bit surprised.

Braxis let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, we hit a shinigami gold mine." He then paused. "Hey I don't think I caught any of _your_names." He pointed at the small group with Uryu Chad Orihime Renji and Ichigo. "We'll start with you, the wimpy looking kid with the orange hair."

"Wimpy? Coming from the guy who tried to runaway like a little baby!" Ichigo screamed with anger.

"Are we talking about a toddler or a baby here, because I don't think most babies are even capable of walking…"

"Come here I'll-

Toshiro strolled in between them.

"Quit it, both of you!" He ordered.

Toshiro stood silently for a minute pondering and planning out his next move.

"Braxis, you have attacked a member of the Soul Society, a major offense, but since you aren't the _real_threat here I think we can make an exception in exchange for information about Lotus." Toshiro's words were followed by silence.

"You have to be willing to make me a better bargain than that, because quite frankly, I don't think the Soul Society is really much better." Braxis replied with seriousness.

"Are you crazy? You can't even compare the two!" Katsuo exclaimed.

"I don't think you understand, I'm offering you a chance to avoid being severely punished." The captain retorted.

"No, I don't think _you _understand, I'm dealing the cards, even if you were to kill both of us right now, you'd lose valuable Intel, you've got one opportunity, and I'd suggest trying to put more effort into convincing me." Braxis explained chuckling.

Toshiro gazed at him in silence for a few seconds, his expression blank.

"I can't just hand out pardons, it's not my call."

"Excuse me captain, but are you implying that you would let these guys get away if it was your choice?" Renji objected, trying to be respectful at the same time.

"They _did_come here with the intention of killing Rukia." Uryu agreed.

Braxis turned to Rukia, approached her until they were about 2 feet from each other, Braxis paused awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well I guess I'm sorry for the… inconvenience."

Ichigo's face turned from dumbfounded to red with anger.

"What kind of apology is that you little-

"Apology accepted." Everyone did a double take of Rukia's response, even Braxis looked astounded.

"Are you serious?" Renji and Ichigo yelled in unison.

"The people that attacked us were clearly a lot more of a threat than Braxis or Katsuo, besides I will take into account that they weren't really doing this on their own accord." She explained.

"I agree with Rukia, everyone deserves a second chance, oh I'm Orihime by the way." Orihime suddenly stated a joyful expression splattered across her face.

"Pleasure to meet you as well, seems like there is only a couple of people in this bunch who have proper manners." Braxis said haughtily, snickering.

"My offer still stands, you come to the soul society and give us information in exchange for a partial sentence." Toshiro explained.

"Agreed," Katsuo quickly replied, Braxis made a noise, as if he was about to speak, but Katsuo cut him off. "If you're going to be an idiot about this then I'll be the sensible one, it's a deal."

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"I don't want information we already have, tell us something useful, and we will hold up our end of the bargain." The captain stated. Toshiro and the Head Captain stood in front of Braxis and Katsuo, who were both equip with reiatsu-binding rings, fastened to their right forearms, over their clothing. Another captain with long black hair stood along with them.

The five stood in Head Captain Yamamoto's office a slight tension about them all.

"This is pointless, they obviously have no knowledge of any value to us." Bakuya claimed sternly.

"They carry zanpakuto, each squad consists of-

The Captain Commander raised his hand to stop Katsuo.

"This information does not help us, these are simple facts they don't give us any edge over the opposition, you'll be sentenced to-

"Kujira," Braxis spoke out, looking up towards the aged man in front of him. "The identity of their leader, only known by the seven Gicho, of course I'm an exception." He paused again. "Daitaro Kujira."

Katsuo gave Braxis a look of utter amazement.

"Even if what you're saying is true, how does that give us an advantage?" Byakuya enquired coldly.

"Lotus is almost solely based on it's structure, for example, if one of the captains was ever to be blown to bits, someone would step in to replace him immediately. Tare off the arm off an octopus and it will grow back; the solution is to chop off the head." Braxis explained, chuckling.

"Kill the leader? But wouldn't one of the Gicho just take his place?" Toshiro asked, suddenly jumping into the conversation.

"There is always a successor chosen by the current ruler, but more than one rightful heir exists this time, there will be a struggle for power. That would be a good time for the soul society to take action." Katsuo added. 1

"We don't even know if they are true enemies yet, speculating a plan of attack this early is preposterous." Captain Yamamoto retorted.

"Captain, forgive me, but these men have given us useful information, should a conflict occur, I believe they've fulfilled their end of the arrangement." Toshiro objected.

He stood silently, like a statue, completely void of any emotion. "Until we can decide a proper punishment for your crimes, you will remain in Seireitei, a shinigami will be assigned to watch over you at all times, your Zanpakuto will remain locked away as well, you're dismissed."

Toshiro bowed to the head captain then joined Braxis and Katsuo and led them to the giant doors behind them, after strolling through a series of corridors they made their way into the sunlight once again, each of their eyes taking a few seconds to adjust as they enter the rays of light shooting down at Seireictei.

They only made it a few steps until they were stopped by two other shinigami, a short girl with jet black hair which had been put neatly put into a bun, and a lean-built man with a scarred face.

The girl bowed. "Good morning Captain Hitsuguya, I've been assigned with the task of supervising one of the ryoka."

The other shinigami walked over to them, also bowing to Toshiro. "Captain Hitsuguya, I've been given the same task."

Toshiro scanned over the four of them.

Katsuo, you're with Momo, Braxis, join Shuuhei." Toshiro ordered, Katsuo took a place beside Momo.

Braxis paused, observing the very kind looking cute girl to his left, and then the battered, remotely intimidating man to his right.

"Are those the _final_pairings, because I'd really prefer-

"Yes." The captain quickly shot down Braxis' about-to-be objection.

The captain trekked off and the remaining four split up and made their ways to their specific barracks'.

Katsuo and Momo marched through the spiralling and seemingly never ending, streets of Seretei, in silence, below the cool breeze which danced past them.

"I'm Katsuo Ishimura, by the way." He said, breaking the silence of the aging walk.

"Oh… right." Momo said looking back at him nervously.

There was a brief pause between the two.

"Toshiro Hitsuguya must like you." Katsuo stated as they continued forward.

"What makes you say that?" She looked back at him, evidently blushing.

"I don't mean to sound arrogant, but he did pair you up with _me_, he didn't put you in charge of Braxis, so he must like you a bit." Katsuo responded.

"Well… I wouldn't know."

"Let's just say he's a lot like a child."

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"That's interesting, you said they had Zanpakuto?" Yoruichi pondered.

Ichigo, Rukia, Yoruichi, Renji and Urahara all sat in a square in the shop as they discussed the strange visitors that attacked the high school earlier.

"They must've been Zanpakuto, the one fighting Toshiro even used Bankai!" Ichigo claimed.

"They said they were from some kind of organisation called Lotus." Rukia explained, at which Urahara's face seemed to light up.

"Ah, I suspected as much, Lotus is a covert group that runs somewhat parallel to the soul society, every decade or so a patrol will come across a few of them, but the soul society has never had an actual conflict with them before." Urahara paused momentarily than continued. "The soul society has barely any information on Lotus, so if they do turn out to be enemies we will have little to no idea what we're up against. Hopefully the two fugitives will be a good source of information."

"Well maybe _you _would've been a lot more help if you were there." Ichigo retorted.

"I was off on… an important errand." Urahara said, smiling nervously.

"Yeah right." Renji exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

"Ichigo, you should go to the soul society and pay your new friends a visit, see if you can get some data yourself." Yoruichi suggested, Urahara, nodding in agreement.

"And how do you expect me to do that, it's not like they're actually my friends?"

"I'm sure you can get creative."

**A/N: FINALLY FINISHED A NEW CHAPTER! WOOO!**

**Story is in progress again! So for anyone who is reading this at a later date, its not discontinued :P  
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	5. A Short Beginning To a Long Story

**LOTUS**

**A/N: lol Braxis seems like such of an ASS in this chapter, even more so than usual, idk I guess its cause him and Shuhei do not get along at all, but man did I ever write him out to be a jerk in this one. This chapter is OKAY its quite long and I think its kinda weird (:P). Anyway, now that this fic is finally underway again ENJOY!**

Shuhei looked blankly at the schedule in front of him. About fourteen things were written on the parchment in blue ink and all but one sentence was crossed out. It read, _print __today__'__s __issue__ of __Seireitei__ Communication._

The 9th division barracks was were bustling as shinigami scrambled in every direction attempting to complete all their usual daily tasks. Shuhei approached the printing room when a shinigami interrupted him.

"Acting captain, vice captain Yachiru requests your assistance in the Shinigami Women's Association's headquarters, she says it's urgent."

"Oh, thank you." Shuhei said quickly as he moved along, seemingly searching for someone.

He strolled over to a door towards the far left of the rectangular room and opened it quickly. Braxis was sitting against a wall and his jacket was unusually unzipped revealing a white shirt underneath. His eyes were closed, supposedly sleeping.

"Braxis, I'm not supposed to be your baby sitter and you're supposed to be providing some legitimate assistance to this division." Shuhei informed, loud enough to wake Braxis even if he w_as_ actually sleeping.

He wasn't sleeping and instead of making a scene and jumping up in surprise, he simply turned his head and opened a pair of very un-amused looking eyes.

"_And_?" He responded.

"_And_ I need your _assistance_." The acting captain retorted.

Braxis let out a heavy sigh and got to his feet.

"I was wondering when you'd ask. I've been waiting here this whole time for you to show up and throw some loads of work at me. Hell, it can't be any more boring than sitting around here doing nothing."

Shuhei could not help but get a tad irritated by this statement, seeing as he'd been trying to get Braxis to aid him with tasks for the previous hour.

"What's your problem? I've been ordering you around for the past hour and you refused all my requests!" Shuhei barked, furrowing his brows.

"Exactly, you were _ordering_me, now that you've asked nicely… or at least relatively nicely, I'm more than happy to help." Braxis replied chuckling.

"So you can act like a complete brat, but I'm not allowed to give you orders, when you've been placed under _my_ command?"

Braxis marched past Shuhei. "It wouldn't matter even if I _wasn__'__t_under your command I'm sure you wouldn't hesitate to bark orders at me if I was just some know it all, I almost forgot you shinigami are like that."

"What IS your problem with shinigami? You always whine about us and you never even say why or make any valid points against us!" Shuhei shot back, not completely angry, but annoyed.

"The fact that you have a wide spread superiority complex and the fact that you're apparently oblivious to that same superiority complex." Braxis hissed, snickering.

"Of course, because you're the perfect example of modesty." Shuhei riposted sarcastically.

"Shut up, you barely even know me."

"Maybe so, but correct me if I'm wrong, I'd say you have something against authority figures as a whole. I'm not going to pretend to know you, but if that is the case then isn't prejudging _every_shinigami like that not only unfair, but juvenile as well." The dark haired man stated as they made their way outside.

"Whatever… Go ahead and make assumptions as you see fit, I couldn't care less."

Shuhei scribbled something on a piece of paper, handed it to Braxis and turned. He walked in the opposite direction, back towards the 9th division barracks.

"Follow those directions, once you get to the Shinigami Women's Association headquarters, find out what they need, but DO NOT take any action before I arrive." He called over his shoulder.

He continued to walk back. Braxis's gaze traveled to the paper, but his eyes were focused on nothing as he pondered. Was there truth behind what Shuhei said? He thought. Braxis couldn't help but understand that there was some verity behind his statement.

Braxis shook it off and his eyes focused what was scribbled on the paper.

"Luckily, I have an impeccable sense of direction!" He said to himself triumphantly, however his mind continued to graze over what had just been said.

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"Toshiro!" Momo exclaimed as the miniature captain stood in the doorway of Aizen's old office in the 5th division barracks which her and Katsuo had been cleaning out. They were making extremely slow progress due to Momo's continuing denial that Aizen was now the enemy.

"Captain Hitsuguya." Katsuo greeted, grinning.

Toshiro looked at the mess of things scattered across the cluttered, stale-smelling room.

"The captain's office?" Toshiro inquired.

"Yes, me and Katsuo both agreed that cleaning up captain Aizen's office would be beneficial for the entire division, since it is a better location to get paperwork done and finish all kinds of other tasks." Momo explained.

Toshiro couldn't help but wince a little as he heard "Captain Aizen" slip out of Momo's mouth. The actual name didn't bother him, it was the way Momo used it - spoken like the name of a friend. Toshiro could tell she still didn't truly believe that Aizen was _really_the enemy.

"Toshiro Hitsuguya, I never actually got the opportunity to thank you for being so generous-"

"You don't owe me anything, you're just lucky you're not the true threat." Toshiro dismissed quickly.

Katsuo smiled in return.

Then, Toshiro looked at Momo with a bit of confusion. "Uhh Momo, isn't there a women's association meeting right now?"

Momo's face was suddenly drained of colour and there was a brief silence. "How did I forget!" She squealed and was about to storm out when she turned to address the two others standing in the room. "Sorry, but I really have to go!" She exclaimed as she scrambled away.

"You _knew_ Momo was going to be at a meeting at this time, so why'd you stop by?" Katsuo brought up.

"I wanted to see if everything was running smoothly in this division… Things have been tough for them since Aizen betrayed Soul Society." Toshiro replied looking downwards.

"Their vice captain is _more_ than capable of sustaining the division."

Toshiro looked up at Katsuo, a slight smile over his face, he turned about to exit the building when he paused, as if he had forgotten something important. "There is a bit of a disturbance in the Rukon district. Something to do with an increased amount of hollows, so it might take a little longer to get everything cleared up and assign the both of you with proper sentences…" He then strolled off.

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"Aha, Kuchiki." Braxis exclaimed as he jogged up to the shinigami. The enormous house was kept in extremely good condition; trees had been gingerly placed around the grounds, and pastel coloured flowers bloomed in neat little patches surrounding the property. Braxis ran over a patch of grass and approached Byakuya.

"You wouldn't happen to know where the Shinigami Women's Associations HQ is… well of course you would know, you live here, but if you could just point me in the right direction it—"

Byakuya sneered and then continued walking, as if Braxis was addressing someone else. Braxis craned his head, watching Byakuya march away.

"I try to be nice and look at what I get." Braxis snarled as a guard stepped in front of him.

"State your business." He ordered, blocking the doorway.

"Shuhei sent me to see what the Women's Association wants." The guard moved out of the way and pointed straight forward.

"Head down the hall, the first door on your left."

The inside was comparable to the outside of the structure, very clean and well kempt. The room was about 30 feet away from his previous destination. Quickly, he slid the door open. About seven women whom were sitting on the floor around a table, seemingly in mid-conversation, stopped what they were doing and immediately looked up at him.

"Who're you?" A short pink-haired girl from the end of the table asked.

"Uh… I'm Braxis, it's a pleasure to meet you all." He replied chuckling nervously.

Yachiru leaped out of her seat and over to Braxis. Since she was extremely short, no more than four feet tall, she gazed up at Braxis like a child observing something completely alien. She stood like that for about a minute in silence until she finally opened up her mouth to speak,

"You're funny looking." Yachiru stated bluntly, giggling.

"Uh... Thanks?" Braxis looked up noticing long flowing blonde hair. "Rangiku! Nice to see someone who's not so up tight around here, then again," he looked back at Yachiru who was still staring at him, "Never mind."

"Rangiku, you know him?" A girl with short silver hair enquired.

"He's one of the Ryoka, that was taken into custody." Rangiku replied, looking un-amused.

"I'm Yachiru, nice to meet you… what was your name again?" She asked looking at him curiously.

"Braxis," He said looking at her oddly.

Yachiru peered up at the white twisted smile over Braxis' mouth.

"I'll just call you Smiley-kun!" She stated joyfully.

"Okay… nobody has ever called me that before, but I guess its simple enough."

The both of them looked at each other for a second, then Braxis remembered the situation and began speaking again. "Anyway, yeah, I've been sent on behalf of Shuhei Hisagi to see… what you want." He said awkwardly.

"We've decided that this room is too boring!" Yachiru squealed. "That's why we wanted to get Shuhei to paint a picture of us, but since Shuhei hasn't come along it looks you're going to have to do it Smiley-kun!" She added smiling.

A girl with black hair tied into a bun and glasses stepped in. "President I don't think that-

"Well then Smiley-kun, are you gonna help us?" Yachiru asked, ignoring Nanao.

"Hey, I didn't come here to_do_ the work... " Braxis pondered, recalling the last words Shuhei had said to him. _"DO__NOT__take__action__before__I__arrive."_ Braxis was about to decline when he remembered something else his 'boss' had said. _Isn't__ it __just __a __little__ juvenile?_

"But now that you guys mention it, I've been itching to create a masterpiece." _Hehe, __you __want __to __see __juvenile __Shuhei?  
><em>  
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_"I've been on the run for years, loathing the idea of settling down and confining myself for so long, but I've been brought here by force and for once it feels... Correct. I've been craving freedom my as long as I can remember, but maybe that was a false belief, maybe that's just Braxis' ideology, but I think what I've wanted all these years is equality. It seems that Braxis just wants to shut everyone out and live in his own little world, but I want the complete opposite, I want harmony, to live in sync with others. Since I've been brought here I also realize how much me and Braxis differ from one another, for so long it seems that everything I've done revolved around him, but I guess it's time to finally face it, we're not the same person, our opinions on things are very different. I could tell years ago." _

__The ground was freezing and littered with bones. It was thick brown dirt but a layer of frost had grown over it. Katsuo shivered. His hair was shorter back than, a simple clean cut flattened out as it stuck to the wet surface of his head. The weather only got worse as the winter grew closer and closer and Katsuo clutched his blade that was lying next to him on the ground, shining a bit in the ashen moonlight. If this kept up he would probably die in the next few rounds, depending on how strong the hollows were, and if any got to him, which was likely judging by the amount of dead bodies he encountered while trying to discover a safe spot.

The recruits this year weren't a powerful group, Katsuo being one of the stronger links in the chain. He wore a brown cape over his shoulders, that was seemingly stitched together with potato sack material. Underneath he wore a burgundy long sleeve shirt, with black pants and boots.

_"It was the annual recruitment. Lotus released the strongest pupils into a giant pit and freed hollows in timed intervals, the testing lasted four days, the first day weak hollows were sent out every 3 hours, the second day stronger hollows were released every 4 hours, the third was every 6 hours, and the fourth day hollows were released every 8 hours, I was only on the second day at the time."_

Katsuo wobbled slightly, groggy from lack of sleep as he placed a blanket underneath him and he scooted over near the large rocky cliff looming over him, he had picked a spot behind a forest of dead trees, protected in the front by the forest and in the back the cliff, he lied down on his shoulder, looking out into the trees as he drifted off into sleep...

It was the crack of dawn when something scurrying through the trees awoke him. Katsuo immediately leapt to his feet, gripping his blade as he scanned the trees for intruders. Nothing, but the sound of quick footsteps still continued. Suddenly a flash of colour shot from the trees, tackling Katsuo onto his back.

A large-busted girl with onyx hair was laying on top of him holding a sharp object to his throat.

"Answer quickly, are you willing to travel in a group?" She demanded.

"Gladly." Katsuo replied squirming a bit.

With that, she jumped back to her feet. She looked to be average weight, she had a round face, brown eyes and a small nose. Her hair was long, and she kept her bangs kept away from her face with a hair clip. Her clothes were like the other recruits. A burgundy long sleeve shirt over black bottoms, although she was sporting a navy blue scarf around her neck.

"Rio, you can come out now." She yelled as the sound of rustling erupted from the treed to Katsuo's right.

A girl with short blonde hair leaped into view. She was a few inches shorter than the girl that had attacked Katsuo. She had large brown orbs and shared many facial features with the other girl, except the blonde was slightly thinner. Her hair was a bit higher than shoulder length and flipped upwards at the bottom.

"Who are you?" The one with the black hair looked at Katsuo, her brows furrowed.

"Katsuo Ishimura." He replied quickly.

"I'm Minako, this is my little sister Rio." The black haired girl claimed.

Rio smiled widely. "Nice to meet ya!"

"We should move out, they're gonna send out the next wave any minute now." Minako suggested as she glanced at Katsuo's belongings, which had been scattered around his resting area.

"Oh right, sorry to hold you up." Katsuo said, scrambling to gather all of his things.

"Its alright, we need all the help we can get, no matter how slow you are." Rio giggled as she folded the blanket Katsuo had been sleeping on and tossed it to him.

Suddenly the three of them all looked up, at the screech of something. At that Katsuo began moving quicker. Gathering up his canteen and blanket, he then wrapped the blanket around the canteen and carried it like a sack, over his shoulder.

"No, Moving too quickly would only draw attention to ourselves." Minako exclaimed, stopping Katsuo.

"Draw attention to ourselves? Judging by the noise it made, that's a massive hollow. Something that big can't hope to catch up with us if we run." He objected.

"No way, some recruits been killing a lot of hollows… Minako and I have only fought one hollow so far." Rio said looking up at the direction of the noise curiously.

"14 recruits go into this, I have fought four, with all of us that makes 11 others, isn't it more likely that is a _group_instead of a single person."

Minako's eyes shifted to meet his. "You saw the bodies too, there aren't that many people left, I say there is one person doing all the killing." She stated as she walked into the forest, Rio followed close behind. Katsuo hesitated a bit than continued with them.

They had strolled uninterrupted for hours until Minako was satisfied with the area. In the middle of a large clearing, the three settled down. The sun finally began to recede and the three sat in a circle around an imaginary point. They were barely able to see each other's silhouettes, as they sat.

"Hey Katsuo, I think Minako has a 'thing' for you." Rio stated slyly, eyeing Minako.

"I'm right here." Minako said bluntly.

"I haven't seen you act this soft towards a guy since you were a kid." Rio retorted with a smirk.

"Soft? What is couple soft to you? I said a of sentences to him?" Minako said turning slightly pink.

"Oh that's soft for _you_." Rio shot back, giggling.

"Shut up Rio!" Minako yelled, her cheeks now red.

Katsuo grinned as he witnessed the two bickering, but the tiny conflict ended in just minutes and they all drifted off to sleep.

The sun was just beginning to peek it's way over the horizon when the three of them were quickly awakened by a massive noise. A hollow loomed over them, it's giant shadow enveloping them in darkness. It was grey, it's mask most comparable to an old fashioned masquerade. It was a triangular shape, yet had rounded edges, on either side of the top were giant horns. It's rounded eyes like staring into nothingness, below them hung a frown. It was about fifty feet tall, with four gigantic arms and stubby legs. It swung an arm immediately for Rio and she jumped to the right, as she ripped her katana from it's sheath. She charged for the hollows head. The hollow whipped an arm at her again, slamming her to the ground.

"Rio, get back here!" Yelled Minako who had fallen back into the forest along with Katsuo.

Katsuo felt a bit helpless as he watched Rio get smashed into the ground again. "A hollow like that can't be attacked directly, wait! The legs!"

Katsuo unsheathed his blade charging for the small legs of the leviathan. At the same time Rio readied for another attack and leaped towards it again, this time she was targeting the arms. But suddenly, the hollow turned it's giant arm to reveal large spikes on the underside of its wrist, within seconds the beast swung its arm and Rio was impaled by one of the giant stakes. Her body went limp as the giant spear pierced right through her stomach and out her back. The hollow than shook it's great arm throwing Rio's body across the clearing.

"Rio!" Minako screamed, sprinting towards her sister.

The hollow caught glimpse of Katsuo, still running for it, and with a swift move, it hammered it's fist into the ground. Katsuo dodged it by diving backwards. Suddenly the beast raised its other fist, preparing to attack again. Suddenly, Blood showered out from its right

shoulder. Katsuo realized that the upper right arm had been completely severed.

At first Katsuo thought Minako had attacked, until he realized, she was still by her sister, who was now in a pool of her own blood. The lower right arm was now sent flying by the unknown swordsman.

"There we go, now it's fair game." A sharp voice exclaimed, sounding like it was behind the hollow.

The hollow spun around, than it began to laugh hysterically. "You're too late, once I devour that girl I will regain my strength." The hollow reached towards Rio, but the mysterious figure leaped forward, slicing off the other arm with a diagonal slash.

The man was not waiting for the beast to attack again this time, and he lunged towards its head chopping it through the middle, as the giant being turned to ash and floated into the sky.

The man was wearing the uniform that they had all been sporting, but his face was not visible above the collar of his shirt. Instead a black mask concealed everything but his eyes, the most notable thing about him was the paint over his mouth. The white splatter of a crooked, demented smile, holstering his weapon he marched over to Katsuo, who was still slightly dazed from the fight.

"Name's Braxis." The man claimed.

Katsuo suddenly snapped back to reality.

"Oh, I'm Katsuo."

"Man, was that ever close, you guys were a few seconds away from being dinner... Er breakfast." Braxis stated chuckling.

That's when Katsuo looked over at Minako, still crouched down on the floor next to Rio. Katsuo jogged over, followed by Braxis.

Rio lay lifeless in Minako's arms, the gaping hole in her stomach still seeping blood, as Minako sobbed quietly, tears running down her pale cheeks and dripping silently onto the ground. Katsuo and Braxis were still, frozen. Braxis once believing he had saved them all, he had come to a riveting conclusion. The few minutes that they stood still felt like days, as Minako's cries grew no louder or quieter.

"Minako... I'm sorry." Katsuo finally said, kneeling down beside her.

She looked at him, her usual firmness completely wiped away. "You have nothing to be sorry about, it was my fault! She was my little sister, but I ran like a coward, while she fought." Minako sobbed, holding the back of Rio's head but not looking into her eyes once full of life.

Braxis stood silently, he tended to shy away from situations like this as he was terrible at projecting sympathy, however certainly not terrible at feeling it. Katsuo reached a hand out for Rio's face, gently grazing his fingertips over her eyelids, closing them.

Katsuo looked at Braxis, clearly not knowing how to respond to such a thing.

_"Even if Braxis didn't show up that second, it's safe to say I could've beaten that hollow on my own, me and Minako could've pushed forward together, but Braxis interfered. Months passed, the three of us were among just five that survived. Braxis and I were both assigned to brigade 4, there are only 7 ranked members of a group, the lowest being recruit, private, corporal, sergeant, officer, 2nd commander and commander. We were lucky to make it through the recruitment process, let alone being selected for the ranked portion of the brigade. I was ranked at corporal, while Braxis had been assigned the duty of officer. A short beginning to a long story."_

_  
><em>[][][][][][][][][][][][]

Braxis stood over an easel paintbrush in hand and brows furrowed with determination. As he conjured up several different images in his head, he finally decided on one. He started to paint quickly (and badly). He had completed the crude picture in just a few minutes.

"Tada! My work of art is absolute." Braxis announced as he turned away from the painting and bowed theatrically.

What he revealed was a semi-scribbled drawing of himself standing above, what looked like the mangled headless body of Shuhei. Braxis stood with his left foot on his back, holding up a katana with is right hand. Hanging at the end of the Katana was Shuhei's missing head, with X's for eyes. The background was a bright blue sky, and behind the whole violent scene, the entire women's association, all of their eyes replaced with bright red hearts.

The women gazed blankly at the painting, Yachiru with a hand on her chin, focusing particularly hard on the painting, which more so resembled a doodle.

Nanao stared at it with furrowed brows, though her eyes seemed dull, there was a growing fury within. "What the hell—"

"I like it!" Yachiru burst out, to the surprise of many members of the group. "There's something missing though."

Yachiru stepped up to the picture, snatched the brush from Braxis and began to scribble all over the scene. When she was finished she shuffled over and exposed an extremely detailed picture of Kenpachi Zaraki, which had replaced Braxis' spot in the painting.

"There, _now_ it's perfect!" She concluded.

Braxis raised an eyebrow at Yachiru.

"I liked it better when all the girls were infatuated with _me_, but I guess that still gets my point across." He said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Nanao continued to glare at the ridiculous drawing in front of her. "With all do respect-

"Both of you step aside, I know exactly what it's missing." Sui-Feng suddenly stepped in, grabbing the brush and making adjustments accordingly.

This time Kenpachi had been replaced with a black cat, sitting on Shuhei's torso, clutching his head in between its jaws.

"Now its beautiful!" Sui-Feng exclaimed as if she was in a trance, as she stared at the picture with starry-eyes.

Yachiru and Braxis both eyed the painting.

"Uh… I don't get it." Braxis reacted as he continued to observe the house cat perched on Shuhei.

A pitiful squeal erupted from behind the group, like someone was about to say something but their sentence trailed off into babbling nonsense.

Everyone's attention snapped to Shuhei who had evidently made the sound.

His eyes were narrowed into near-slits and his mouth agape as he pointed a convicting finger at the easel.

"Hey, don't look at me. I have no idea what the cats doing there." The masked one said as he leaned close to the painting and observed the black feline.

Shuhei kept the same expression as he approached the canvas, but before he could make it there Yachiru whizzed by him scooping up the painting and somehow managing to hang it on the centre of the right wall.

"Its Peeerrrfect! Its going to stay up there forever." She said enthusiastically as she stared up at it, mesmerized.

Shuhei was left with a look of sheer amazement when he turned to Braxis.

The only reply Braxis could muster however was a simple shrug.


	6. Slow Advancement

**Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or any of it's characters…**

A/N: Sorry for the slow updates next one should be quick, now enjoy and REVIEW!

**Lotus**

**Chapter 6: Slow Advancement**

"I never introduced myself... I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." The orange haired man squeezed out with a hint of reluctance.

Braxis' eyes narrowed. Shuhei, Braxis and Ichigo sat on the floor of the main room in the 9th division barracks. The room was warm and had a slightly musky sent to it.

"...Hi" Shuhei couldn't help but let out a quiet snort of laughter at this. He wasn't sure why Ichigo would want to see Braxis. He had come in several minutes ago asking for him, but never specified what he needed him for. Not that Shuhei was complaining, if Ichigo wanted to take Braxis off of his hands for a little while, he'd be more than grateful. This whole babysitting routine was really cutting into his other work.

Ichigo sighed, Youruichi was probably playing with a ball of yarn while he sat here trying to get some useful information out of this goof.

An awkward silence plagued the room.

"So what do you want…?" Braxis' mask scrunched up around his eyebrows, what Ichigo perceived to be a perplexed expression.

"Come on Ichigo! Start a sentence!"

"So how have you... Been?" Ichigo felt the urge to slap himself, but resisted.

"Great, being held prisoner by shinigami is exactly how I intended to spend my week, er month... Possibly year." he replied, not chuckling as he usually would.

"Let's just get to the point… what's Lotus?" Ichigo asked.

Braxis' un-amused look remained. "Tell you what, you give me a tour of the Sereitai and I'll tell you whatever you want to know." His violet eyes lit.

Ichigo wasn't particularly fond of the idea, seeing as he wasn't even very familiar with the Sereitai, but he preferred not to sit in the awkward quietness that surrounded the room.

"Fine."

The two of them got to their feet and headed for the door. Shuhei, suddenly stepped in front of the door and blocked their path.

"Sorry Ichigo, but I'm supposed to be in charge of Braxis, I can't let you just waltz off with him." As much as Shuhei loathed the idea of hearing Braxis' complaining with his blatantly dry remarks, he had been entrusted with this duty, and wouldn't go against his orders.

"Aw c'mon Shuhei, you really want me to stick around? I mean, I'm flattered that you adore me so much, but I'd hate to interrupt your important errands."

Shuhei narrowed his eyes, Braxis' proposal was tempting. He looked over at Ichigo.

"Okay."

The two exited. The sky was bright as it usually was, clouds speckled across its blue expanse. The sun beamed down on the two of them with an ominous yellow glow, causing the heat to rise from comfortable to sweat-inducing. Ichigo couldn't help but wonder how Braxis was managing to wear a jacket in such warm conditions.

"The great encyclopedia of Braxis is open, what do you wish to know, my good sir?" Braxis said joyfully, practically frolicking around.

"What is Lotus planning?" The orange haired boy replied plainly.

"The encyclopedia is a bit smaller than that."

"How do the members get there zanpakuto?" Ichigo continued.

"Tiny bit smaller." Braxis repeated placing his fingers close together.

Ichigo groaned. "Why did Lotus hire you to kill Rukia?

"See that one I know… sort of. I speculate it was a trap, since she wasn't in the soul society at the time; she was away from any other shinigami that would interfere. That way they could attack me and Katsuo thinking they wouldn't have to deal with other shinigami." Braxis paused and began to walk in front of Ichigo "That's just a guess though, maybe they just don't... Like her."

"So you don'tactually know very much about Lotus?" Ichigo said with vague irritation.

"Hey, I actually came out here with the intention of giving you what you wanted." Braxis looked back at him and shrugged. "Sorry."

They continued in silence for several minutes. The calm sounds or birds singing and the subtle breeze sweeping across the trees. The sweet smell of flowers carried along with the wind as Ichigo pondered.

Ichigo sighed. "Why'd you ask for a tour of the Sereitai?"

"It's just about the only thing I find interesting about the shinigami, everything else sucks." The masked figure replied bluntly as he snickered.

Ichigo paused awkwardly. "Where do you wanna go?

"I don't know, you're the one who's supposed to be giving me a tour."

"Uhh... What? I don't know anything about this place." Ichigo retorted, giving him a look of slight annoyance.

"Well that's a rip off, acting like you're an experienced tour guide from the world of the living." Braxis said as he shook his head in disbelief.

"What? I never said anything like that! If you want a tour go ask Byakuya or something!" Ichigo yelled.

Braxis cringed. "That guys about as approachable as a wood-chipper."

"The first few times we met Byakuya was trying to kill me." He replied with a sort of agreement. Despite the grimness of the statement his tone was quite relaxed.

"Why?" Violet eyes peered at Ichigo from over the shoulder of a fur-lined coat.

"I was trying to save my friend, Rukia. Byakuya and every other member of the Gotei 13 was trying to kill me." He continued casually.

Braxis had turned completely around by the time Ichigo finished, he tilted his head and his eyes radiated with puzzled glare.

"Yet somehow you're working for them as a sub?"

"Well… it doesn't really make sense unless you hear the whole thing."

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

The dim glow around the circular room was insufficient for its large size, and the darkness seemed to envelope the two figures within. Yori was standing about four feet away from a woman. She was about 5'7, but beyond that Yori could not make out her facial features - other then the fact that she wore a large trench coat - she could not see any details of her attire

"You saw the two betrayers then?" Her voice was serious and firm, echoing a bit in the spacious room.

"I'm afraid not, by the time I had arrived it seemed the shinigami captain had already removed the two targets from the world of the living." Yori kept a completely straight face, this woman was in charge of interrogating individuals and Yori new if he showed any obvious signs of his lies she would discover it immediately.

"Under the assumption that you learned the shinigami's identity, what were they called?" She continued quickly, not bothering to linger on the last question.

"Toshiro Hitsuguya, captain of the 10th Division."

"Were there any other shinigami there?"

"Only the shinigami's vice captain, but unfortunately, I was not able to obtain her identity." Yori added.

"Very well, your 2nd in command will be questioned next, if there is the slightest detail out of order in either of your accounts, you will both be executed instantly, show yourself out."

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Braxis remained silent after Ichigo's story concluded, and he had to admit it was quite extraordinary. Even disregarding the fact that his goal had been accomplished, Ichigo had the courage to go up against an opponent that seemed infinitely stronger than himself. Either that or it was stupidity, Braxis couldn't quite tell.

"Honestly, I'm pretty impressed." The oddly dressed individual stated bluntly.

"A lot of people are, but what they don't seem to understand is that I did it to save my friend, not to prove something."

Ichigo's face was locked into a serious expression.

"Whatever, the fact that you're in one piece is the part that I'm impressed about."

The substitute-shinigami looked as if he were about to speak but was interrupted.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." A low voice was acknowledged from behind Braxis.

"Komamura," Ichigo greeted.

Braxis couldn't help but flinch a little at what he saw; a three meter tall wolf-man stood there, eyeing him.

A shinigami with sunglasses suddenly peeked out from behind Sajin's bulk and muttered something to him.

"Sir, I believe that is one of the Ryoka that were arrested just recently in the world of the living."

His captain glanced at Braxis warily then bowed his head.

"I am Sajin Komamura, captain of the seventh division. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." The large dog-like creature said politely.

Braxis paused for a moment. "The pleasure is mine." he replied returning the bow. "My name's Braxis, for future reference." He added, chuckling.

Braxis hadn't used such a formal greeting in a long time. Although he rarely received such a civil introduction himself, and he hadn't been expecting any sort of greeting from a shinigami. Nevertheless such a show of respect pleased the man in the sunglasses and he shuffled over beside his captain and bowed as well.

"Tetsuzaemon Iba, vice-captain of the seventh division."

The two shinigami then paused for a few seconds before marching past them.

Braxis looked back at the huge dog-man's back as he continued away.

"I have to admit, the soul society is freaking weird." He said raising an eyebrow.

Ichigo looked at Braxis oddly, he couldn't help but be perplexed by the question. "What do you mean?"

"... Exactly what I said, HQ was pretty dull, I liked the subtleness though." Braxis replied his eyes drifting off.

"Wait "the soul society"? You mean the Sereitai." Ichigo corrected.

"No... I don't." Ichigo gave Braxis an even more puzzled look. "You do know the Lotus base isn't actually in the soul society right?" Braxis looked at Ichigo's utterly riddled expression. "Okay obviously not."

"That's why those two guys didn't use a Senkaimon to get back."

"Yeah it all makes sense now." Braxis added with a pair of dull eyes.

"Ichigo!" Both of them turned to notice Renji who stood next to a bald man with a grin on his face.

"You're pretty popular." Braxis stated.

Renji's face immediately lost its joy, and he was now cringing as Ichigo approached with the masked figure a few steps behind.

"What the hell is he doing with you?"

Before Ichigo could reply Braxis blurted something out, "What a charmer."

"Youruichi wants me to see what I can figure out about Lotus remember?"

Renji sighed and Ikakku said. "So you're one of the Ryoka everyone's talking about? You don't look like much; I can't even sense your reiatsu."

"Maybe you should be glad, that means this thing is doing it's job." Braxis said pointing to the metal ring around his forearm.

"Hollows have been popping up all around district 60, Yumichika went to see what's up, but he's been out there for a while." Renji explained.

"Tough luck Ichigo, Renji and I were going to ask you to tag along."

"Yumichika's in trouble?" Ichigo replied.

Renji shrugged. "Like I said, he's been gone for a few hours and nobodies heard from him."

"Yo," Braxis said to get Ichigo's attention. "I'll start to head back to the ninth division barracks, wouldn't want to get in the way of your pivotal duties." Braxis called as he began to walk away from the three shinigami.

"Wait-"

Braxis cut off Ichigo. "Don't sweat it, I'll be here when you get back if you need anymore information."

Ichigo glanced back at Braxis as Renji and Ikaku lunged into the air, then did so himself.

"Yeah right, like he'll I'll go back there. 60th District sounds nice though."

[][][][][][][][]

The three of them bolted forward with Renji leading; the trees zipping past turned into green and brown blurs; the patter of their feet on rooftops as they leaped over the streets below, bystanders sometimes peering up in awe. It took them a few minutes to get to district 60. It wasn't the worst area in the Rukon district, but that being said it was far from the best. They continued through the many bustling citizens until they reached a road leading into a lush forest. They hadn't been following the path for long when they saw it, a large gray beast resembling an alligator, just about 7 meters long from head to tail. A peculiar object was fastened onto its lengthy snout, an oval shaped metallic part jutted up slightly from its flat nose. Wires strung out around it, each one digging into it's skull.

Yumichika stood to the right of it, tattered and panting as he detected the 3 of them.

Ichigo immediately charged raising his giant blade above his head and preparing to attack, just then the hollow leaped backwards and launched a cero; Ichigo jumped left, barely dodging the red beam.

A yellow spark shot up from the device on its snout and it leaped forwards towards Ichigo, it's jaw agape. Ichigo dived right avoiding the creature's jaws.

"What the hell is that thing on its head?" Ichigo commented as he readied himself for another attack.

Ikakku jumped into the air. "Maybe it's a weak spot!" He yelled, but the hollow thwarted his efforts, whipping him aside with its barbed tail and sending him flying backwards.

Suddenly Renji joined, lashing Zabimaru around wildly from a distance. Evidently the creature was agitated by this as it turned to Renji and fired another cero. The red haired shinigami shuffled sideways easily dodging the attack.

The giant alligator waddled forwards, frantically snapping at Renji. However it was slow, its stubby legs not being built for agility.

Ikkaku leaped towards the beast again however this time it was not able to fully avoid his attack. Ikakku made a swift uppercut, and the hollow's tail split away, leaving a bloody stump behind.

At this the hollow lunged backwards all three of them were in the targeted range now.

[][][][][][][][][][][]

Braxis peered passed the dense branches of the bordering forest. He had underestimated the amount of time it would take him to get here. Aside from cutting off his kido, the device around his arm significantly decreased his physical capabilities, so by the time he reached the four shinigami he was exhausted.

They seemed to be oblivious to his presence, and the masked figure continued to watch as the huge creature's jaw snapped open and it prepared for another cero, this one was clearly more powerful than the others.

Suddenly a woman he had not seen before appeared in front of the monster. She had long oddly braided black hair looping underneath her chin and hanging in front of her breasts.

The hollow was about to fire now. What was this idiot doing? It seemed unlikely that the woman would move and in an act of panic Braxis bounded out of the trees and tackled her over, they hit the ground hard but narrowly avoided the huge blast.

As the two of them stood up the other four shinigami watched.

"Captain Unohana?" Renji said with a perplexed expression.

"Braxis? What the heck are you doing here?" Ichigo exclaimed.

Braxis looked at Unohana with a mix of disappointment and confusion in his eyes. "Wait… Captain?"

Without replying the woman raised her right arm so that her palm was facing the hollow. "Hado number 33: Sokatsui." A flare of blue flame shot from her palm, enveloping the hollow and killing it instantly.

With that Unohana turned to Braxis nodded and said. "I appreciate and commend your bold act of heroism, but I'm afraid it is squandered with a shinigami of my level." A warm smile spread across her face.

"Will someone please explain what's going on?" Renji added as Yumichika, Ikakku, and Ichigo all gathered around him.

"Surely you all noticed the device that was attached to the hollow?" Unohana paused and then continued. "A team of shinigami successfully captured a hollow that appeared in district 74 wearing the same device."

[][][][][][][][][][][][]

"It is treason my lord!" The woman insisted.

The woman had long brown hair, her bangs mostly held back, but a few still lingered over her emerald eye. Her left eye remained closed, badly damaged judging by the battered eyelid that concealed it. A black trench coat hung around her shoulders, dark red triple spirals littered it's surface. A gray jumpsuit hugged her lean figure underneath, the "v" shaped collar revealing a bit of cleavage. Instead of the typical boots that were frequented around the compound a pair of black flip-flops clung to her toes.

"Yori Takata is lying, his second in command revealed to me that-

"Chou." The man sitting at the head of the large table said, getting her attention.

"Yori's treachery is not a concern at this point." He added.

"This is understandable, but surely he must be executed for his actions."

"I concur, sir." A feeble looking man approached, he wore the same coat however his was zipped up to the collar, covering his body.

He must have been thin judging by his face, his cheek bones nearly contoured in shadows of tight skin. He'd almost looked like a bare skull, if it weren't for his long black shaggy hair and dark brown darting eyes; he could've even been mistaken for a decomposing corpse.

"I won't act so brashly, I've known of Yori's growing deception for quite a while."

"What is our plan now, my lord?" Chou said glancing at the brittle man to the left of her.

"We wait."


End file.
